Thursday 24th May 2007

D-Types return to Le Mans

Winning duo from 1957 to return in June

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D-Types back at le Sarthe

Jaguar’s iconic D-Type will make a special return to Le Mans this year to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1-2-3-4-6 finish the type recorded at Le Mans in 1957.

The actual winning and second placed cars from 1957 are scheduled to reappear on the track at the Sarthe circuit in June, with the kind permission of their owners Evert Louwman and Sir Anthony Bamford.

It will be the first time they have been reunited at the scene since their epic victory. Similar cars owned by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust and Dick Skipworth will also be present.

The celebration has been painstakingly planned by Michael Quinn, grandson of Jaguar’s founder Sir William Lyons, in conjunction with the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust.

"The 1957 victory for Jaguar was such a landmark at Le Mans that we were determined that the 50^th anniversary of it should be properly celebrated. It was, after all, a major British triumph and a great achievement for a relatively small manufacturer at the time. The Le Mans victories really helped put Jaguar firmly on the world map," said Michael.

"Now, in 2007, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest has given its permission for the 1957 D-Types to take part in the 24 Hour trophy presentation on the start-finish straight, just before this year’s race begins. Additionally they will be driven around the circuit in the Motor Racing Legends Cavalcade on Saturday morning for three victory laps."

Jaguar had officially pulled out of racing in 1957, but provided fully-prepared D-Types for legendary Scottish team Ecurie Ecosse, which had won the previous year, to compete on their behalf.

After the usual slog throughout the 24 hours, it was the partnership of Ron Flockhart and Ivor Bueb that eventually seized victory thereby making Jaguar the most successful marque in the history of the race. It was also Ron’s second successive win. Right behind were Ninian Sanderson and John Lawrence, and third place went to Jean Lucas and Jean-Marie Brussin. Belgian journalist Paul Frere and ‘Freddy’ Rouselle finished fourth, with Mike Hawthorn and Masten Gregory sixth.

The victory crowned a hat-trick of wins at Le Mans for Jaguar and its innovative D-Type. These wins in turn followed on from two earlier successes with the C-Type, winning in 1951 and 1953.

Image copyright Paul Skilleter Archives; reproduction permitted for editorial use only.

[VENOM500]

FANTASTIC!! Can`t wait to see them!

Ahh...to think that long long ago there was a time when AUDI didn`t win!

About time Jag made a come back! (50,s 80,s ....08`s?)

[Mattygooner]

Stunning, what a car!

I think they should have done this next year at the classic rather infront of 100,000 peugeot fans....

[lowdrag]

Ah, but next year wouldn't be the 50th anniversary would it! In addition to XKD606 (1st) and XKD603 (2nd) there is also the prototype D type XKC401 and also XKD561 which finished 6th. Here is a shot of the Bamford car (then Ecurie Ecosse of course) taken at Goodwood in 1998

Edited by lowdrag on Saturday 26th May 09:14

[A10ARF]

Mattygooner said:

Stunning, what a car!

I think they should have done this next year at the classic rather infront of 100,000 peugeot fans....

As Lowdrag rightly said :
' Ah, but next year wouldn't be the 50th anniversary would it!'
and also would rob the other 80,000 or so Brits of the experience !

Can't wait to see them ...not long now !

[lowdrag]

Incidentally, my Lynx copy of the 1957 winning car will be in the museum for the duration of Le Mans for those who wish to see a D type close up. Lynx made them on the original Jaguar wooden buck.

Edited by lowdrag on Sunday 27th May 11:26

[falcemob]

LD, what a lovely car. I just looked at your profile, how have you managed to get that power out of what I assume is a 3.8?

[lowdrag]

Well, this one has 300bhp and only 280lb/ft of torque. It is the short nose that has the power. We used Venolia pistons (10:1), specially profiled cams, lightened about everything and even the engineers were surprised at the torque. Not quite sure how much torque since there is a lovely blip on the graph (3,770 rpm) at 400lb/ft where the needle bounced off the top! That one is a 4.2 engine which gave more torque anyway. I was talking to Donovan Motors of New York who told me that for sprint racing they can now get 440bhp out of an XK engine but it won't last many races. There is about 2" difference in the ride height between the two cars as well due to modified suspension.